Khaldoon al-Mubarak suggested that Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules favoured the established elite and publicly questioned how a club with “zero debts” can be punished.

In what appeared to be a veiled reference to the protection Uefa has afforded big, vastly debt-laden clubs such as Manchester United, the Manchester City chairman was adamant that his club’s financial model would be handsomely vindicated in time and that the sanctions imposed by European football’s governing body would not affect any of their plans.

City grudgingly accepted Uefa’s punishment last week after being adjudged to have breached the rules for accruing cumulative